Lions Gate Ent. Toronto announced that it has closed its asset purchase agreement to acquire substantially all of the Modern Ent. Ltd. library, effective today, Aug. 17, 2005. The acquisition had been previously announced.
The acquisition includes the rights held by Modern to leading titles from Vestron, Dino DeLaurentiis and other libraries within the Modern Ent. family, including CONAN THE BARBARIAN, HALLOWEEN II and III, RAGTIME, DEAD ZONE, AND GOD CREATED WOMAN, AMITYVILLE II, EIGHT MILLION WAYS TO DIE, HERCULES IN NEW YORK and EARTH GIRLS ARE EASY.
"This is an accretive, strategic acquisition that meets all of our transactional criteria and reflects our commitment to continue growing our library base as a source of stable, reliable cash flow," said Lions Gate Ent. president Steve Beeks. "The Modern Entertainment library contains a broad range of quality content and brings valuable long-term VOD and TV rights that are consistent with our ongoing strategy of transitioning our core asset into a library of the future."
Beeks pointed out that many of the titles acquired have been purchased by Modern in perpetuity, more than 95% include television rights and a majority of the titles include VOD rights, further positioning Lions Gate's library to exploit future technologies.
Lions Gate also noted that the acquisition unites all rights to the Vestron titles under one roof, including all rights to one of Lions Gate's major franchises, DIRTY DANCING. Lions Gate has shipped an average of more than one million DVD units of DIRTY DANCING annually over the past five years, released a new theatrical film last year, is considering a reality television series, has a new musical stage play touring Australia, Japan and Europe and is planning a 20th anniversary theatrical and DVD rerelease of the original film in early 2007.
The deal was negotiated for Lions Gate by Beeks, Jim Gladstone, svp legal, and Jon Ferro, evp television.
Lions Gate is the premier independent producer and distributor of motion picture, television, home entertainment, family entertainment and video-on-demand content. For more information, visit www.lgf.com.
Rick DeMott
Animation World Network
Creator of Rick's Flicks Picks
